Along with her campaign announcement on Sunday, Clinton showed off her new logo—a big blue H with a red arrow striking through it, pointing to the right. Of course, the Internet freaked out and issued a torrent of snark-laden reactions to the design.
Critics commented on everything from the direction the arrow is pointing to other logos it reminds them of (cough, FedEx, cough) and of course made some other super-tangential-oddball associations.
Anybody seen Rubio's or Rand's actual logos? Oh yeah, here they are. Paul stole his from Tinder, and Rubio obviously let one of his younger children draw his in order to save on expenses.
Bennett’s is the first judicial nomination to clear the Senate since Republicans took over in January. The delays mounted under Democratic control as well, even after Senate rules were changed to ease confirmation of presidential nominations to the lower courts and executive offices.
[...]
Of the Lone Star state’s 11 federal judicial vacancies, nine are in district courts and two on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which reviews cases from Texas.
That is one-fifth of 55 total current vacancies nationwide, according to Glenn Sugameli, who tracks judicial appointments for Judging the Environment, a Defenders of Wildlife project. Meanwhile, the nation faces a record backlog of more than 330,000 civil cases.
Bennett, for his part, will replace U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt, who went on senior (semi-retired) status in March, 2013, more than two years ago.
Bennett has served as the presiding judge for the 61st Civil District Court of Texas.
In this week's game of "Can You Top This?" I posted the article above to Facebook, then Stace picked it up and added a picture of him with the judge, and this morning Charles bragged about working with Bennett's cousin. I can top that.
In 2006, when Bennett and Rep. Borris Miles both challenged then-Rep. Al Edwards to represent Texas House District 146, I went to Miles' office and offered my support early on. But Bennett approached me before the primary (he ultimately finished third) to ask if there was anything he could do to earn my support. I said to him: "Please run for something else in 2008, so that I can give you my support." He did, I did, and the rest as they say is history. After defeating the Republican incumbent in 2008 for the 61st state district court, Bennett was elected administrative judge by unanimous vote (the same as his Senate confirmation approval) over Harris County's 24 civil district courts in 2009.
“I’m the first African-American to hold this position, and I’m the first Democrat to hold it in years, and I’m the youngest tenured judge to hold it,” (Bennett said).
As I have been perplexed many times over the course of the years by Miles' personal conduct as state representative, I have often wondered what might have happened if history had taken a different course, and Bennett was serving in the Texas House instead of on the state (and now federal) bench.
All things considered, I have to say that I'm glad Al Bennett was not elected to represent me in the Texas Lege nearly ten years ago; it is HD146's loss that he wasn't. But it certainly was not Judge Bennett's.
Bennett isn't just an exemplary jurist, though; he is an exemplary person. He is a Scoutmaster for his sons in what spare time he has, and as an Eagle Scout I know that experience imparts a wisdom and maturity to young men that can't really be matched by anything in this day and age.
It's just another example of who the man is. Congrats again, Judge Bennett. Well-earned and well-deserved.
Philippe Nassif, a fine candidate in his own right, is going to have to move on to yet another slot so that the two men don't split Democratic voters in the general election and send Jack Christie back to Council. Christie is a conservative jackass who never should have defeated Jolanda Jones in the first place. I blame, among others, Bill White for that.
Judge Al Bennett and Durrel Douglas will be effecting great changes for Houston and Texas in short order. Both men's talents are much needed in their respective areas of expertise.
What could we expect from a Hillary presidency? My guess is that it
would be Wall Street–friendly, militarized and secretive — though
seasoned with mostly empty rhetoric about uplift, community and
inclusion. It would do little to address polarization and rot. In fact
it would be a perfect embodiment of polarization and rot. There will be
strenuous efforts over the next year and a half to argue otherwise, but
they will convince no one but loyalists.
-- No Plan B (as in back to the Senate) for Marco.
The newly minted GOP presidential candidate made clear in Fox News
and NPR interviews that he’ll leave the Senate when his term ends in
January 2017, and not reserve his options to run for re-election in
Florida if his White House bid doesn’t work out.
“I don’t have a Plan B to pivot back to the Senate race. I intend to
be the nominee,” Rubio said Monday night on Fox News, shortly after
declaring his candidacy. “And that’s why I think it’s important for us
to have a strong candidate in Florida who’s out there working now. If I
went around talking about how I would pivot back to the Senate race if
things didn’t work out, our best candidates may not run.”
He's in for the same reason Ted Cruz is: to be the vice-presidential nominee of his party in 2016, and/or another crack at the title in 2020. I'll take even-money odds on a Rubio-Castro VP debate in October of next year. Two actually; one in English and one in Spanish.
-- No, Chris Christie is not bold. He's incredibly arrogant, exceptionally devious, highly obnoxious, and still morbidly obese two years after having his stomach banded. He remains the nation's most at-risk-of-mortal-cardiac-event politician, bar none.
-- Dr. Ben Carson will (allegedly) announce his campaign for president in his hometown of Detroit next month. No one really knows why he is running, especially now that Wayne LaPierre of the NRA inadvertently shot down Carson's only plausible rationale.
“Eight years of one demographically symbolic president is enough.”
Cruz and Rubio also thank you for your endorsement, Wayne.
The Texas Progressive Alliance revels in the start of both another presidential election season and baseball season as it brings you this week's roundup of lefty blog posts.
SocraticGadfly thinks that creating a national Appomattox Day could be part of dealing with all the political problems that unreconstructed Southerners have caused for America.
Texas Leftist also posted about Hillary's rollout, declaring "she has no healthy competition" for the Democratic nomination.
Dos Centavos asks if Latino voter turnout is dependent on Latino candidates. It's an open-ended question.
Nonsequiteuse says it is time to wear orange and head to Austin (or the internet) to rally against HB 723 as the Texas House of Representatives Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence committee considers a little word with constitutional consequences for minors who need access to safe, legal abortion services.
The Lewisville Texan Journal confirmed that a conservative group sent questionnaires to local candidates, inquiring about vital issues such as the ACLU and sharia law.
And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.
Spaced City celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Houston Astrodme, along with tens of thousands of others.
Texas Watch blogs about sex, drugs, and plant biology; or why Texas is covered in all of this green, brown, and yellow gunk (and why we're all dosed up on over-the-counter allergy medication).
Juanita Jean coins a new word for our culture war-infused times.
Dwight Silverman answers your burning questions about cable cord-cutting.
Free Press Houston noted that Texas Right to Life bullied Saint Arnold's Brewing after they rented out party space to a pro-choice group.
In lauding the Purple Hearts given to survivors of the 2009 Fort Hood shootings, Ted Cruz glossed over his 'no' vote on the bill authorizing them, writes Trail Blazers.
The Lunch Tray explores the ethics of sneaking vegetables into school food.
And finally, Grits for Breakfast penned an ode to Rep. David Simpson (who is sponsoring the legalization of marijuana bills in the Lege) called "treat it like tomatoes".
And...
